Friday, 8 March 2013

Phil Parsons kindly emailed me the following video footage of a EURASIAN BITTERN he filmed feeding at Slimbridge WWT in Gloucestershire on Saturday 23 March. It is an excellent piece of footage and features on my new British Birding Association forum just launched. The video can be found here

This first-winter STEJNEGER'S STONECHAT was trapped and ringed at Portland Bird Observatory (Dorset) in late October of last year (2012) and found to be the same individual that had spent nearly three weeks on Texel (The Netherlands) only the day before its overnight arrival. Martin Cade took feather samples in the hand and DNA analysis confirmed it as belonging to the form stejnegeri, now considered independent of maura in a taxonomic review of the Stonechat complex. Further details of the trapping and inhand measurements can be found on the invaluable and superb Portland website at http://www.portlandbirdobs.org.uk/latest_oct2012.htm

What a beautiful bird this adult RED-BREASTED GOOSE is. It is back once more in the East Fields at Farlington Marsh (Hampshire), consorting with up to 2,500 Dark-bellied Brent Geese. It spent most of February in neighbouring West Sussex on Thorney Island.

Thursday, 7 March 2013

This female DESERT WHEATEAR at Rattray Head has now completed 96 days on site, thanks to the enormous effort of local birder Tim Marshall. Tim has been helping the bird to sustain its body weight by providing it with mealworms throughout its stay. Simon Knight obtained this latest batch of outstanding images - just 18 more days to go to make it the longest staying UK individual ever.

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

JT, Paul Steventon, Melanie Pond and her vet pal Sonia all enjoyed an excellent day out on Tuesday on my second GOSHAWK WORKSHOP with no less than 8 different GOSHAWKS seen at two separate locations. The weather conditions were superb, whilst bonus birds included Woodlark, Dartford Warbler, Hawfinch, Common Raven, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, Greenshank, RED-BREASTED GOOSE and Bittern. It was a fabulous team.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week does not look good so it is likely that the next Workshop will be Monday 11th March, followed perhaps by two more (12th & 13th). Trips cost £20 per person - Vouchers available from Lee at LGREUK400@aol.com

Monday, 4 March 2013

This male CAPERCAILLIE was one of the highlights of my most recent of SCOTTISH trips - this bird hopefully being on the menu of my next trip up there on 3-6 May 2013 on which there are still places (email LGREUK400@aol.com for details)

Sunday, 3 March 2013

The weather forecast for this week is poor (rain from Wednesday) so the only planned trip for this week is TUESDAY 5 MARCH. Meet at Junction 18 of the M25 at 0700 hours prompt or pickup en route - trip vouchers obtainable from LGRE at LGREUK400@aol.com

More trips are planned from Monday to Thursday of next week weather allowing

About Me

I have been birding since 1969 but became obsessed with 'twitching' in 1974 and haven't looked back since. Have driven over 1.3 million miles in pursuit of rare birds in the UK, where to date I have recorded 588 species in Britain and Ireland. I also have a fascination for the Birds of the Western Palearctic, where I have currently recorded 880 of the 1,064 species ever recorded. I am widely travelled in North America, as well as in Africa and Asia, and have written at least 29 books on my chosen subject, including best-sellers ''Ultimate Site Guide to Scarcer British Birds' and 'Rare Birds in Britain 1800-1990'. Established the UK400 Club in 1981 to cater for the most obsessive of the British birding fraternity and now concentrate on online publishing, via the www.uk400clubonline.co.uk website. Record Birding achievements include recording 386 species in Britain & Ireland in 1996 and 627+ in the Western Palearctic in 2008